Surface treatment machines including rotary mixers and cold planers may be used to reclaim, or mill, a ground surface as part of road reclamation, road paving, or soil stabilization. Such surface treatment machines include a rotor assembly having a rotor chamber housing a rotatable rotor. The rotor is configured to rotate about an axis generally horizontal to the ground surface and may be lowered to a predetermined depth so the rotor, while spinning, pulverizes a portion of the ground surface. As the rotor pulverizes the ground surface, debris and particulates travel throughout the rotor chamber. Small particles can infiltrate spaces between rotating and non-rotating components of the machine, causing wear and rotational resistance. Frequent maintenance may be required on the rotational interfaces of such machines.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,056,902 to Roddis et al. describes an isolator cartridge seal for use between rotating and non-rotating components. The seal includes a lip for preventing the ingress or egress of fluids or solids into a cavity. The seal arrangement described by the '902 patent includes a static shut-off device which disengages with one or more of a rotor assembly or stator when the rotor assembly is dynamic. While the sealing arrangement described by the '902 patent may be beneficial, such a sealing system may not provide sufficient sealing for use as a rotor assembly seal arrangement in surface treatment machines.
The rotor assembly seal arrangement of the present disclosure may solve one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art. The current scope of the disclosure, however, is defined by the attached claims and not by the ability to solve any specific problem.